Percy Talbot (Alison Elliott) is released from prison in Maine. With no home or famliy to speak of Percy, elects to stay in Maine and relocate to the small, waning, town of Gilead, whose remaining residents seem to have long since grown numb to the commanding countryside that encloses them. She is taken in by Hannah Ferguson (Ellen Burstyn), the owner of The Spitfire Grill, in exchange for services as a waitress.

Percy forges a strong friendship with Hannah and Shelby Goddard (Marcia Gay Harden), the wife of Hannah’s nephew, as the three run the grill and, ultimately, plan to help Hannah sell the restaurant.